2006 The Curse of AFTRS

…for 50 new students as part of a ‘working together’ induction. This was specifically developed to encourage collaboration in and between teams, as well as learning by doing such concepts as distributed narrative, locative gaming and user journey.

BACK STORY

In late 2005, a grad dip doco student, Christine Greeves, is filming in and around the school when she notices a shadowy figure in her view finder. Convinced the school is haunted, Christine starts to research the AFTRS past and discovers a group of rejected applicants have placed a curse on the school. Christine is shaken by the intensity of their vitriol but she resolves to find the spell and overturn the curse. She confides in her boyfriend, Roger telling him she has found the spell to reverse the curse, but he wants no part in it. That night Christine goes alone to the school to do the spell and is never seen again. Guilt stricken, Roger is desperate to find out what happened to her but has been banned from entering the school, for some reason, by its directors. He has to work remotely and manages to hack into an induction student group who are taking part in a Working Together digital media exercise – using computers to research the school. He secretly appeals to the fifty students for their help in finding Christine and finally ridding the school of the evil curse.

They were given a bogus assignment (to look for dramatic stories in blogs) by presenter Gary Hayes, in the morning. They were then set-up in random teams by drawing coloured ‘quote’ wrist bands from a hat. They were then distributed around the school to specific locations with computers on wireless internet where they eventually logged onto www.roger-that.info – if you go there you will get an idea of how things started out.

From this initial site they then got more back story from Roger with clues that he has not yet fully investigated

On the site were three videos that showed Christine in varying states of panic having discovered something ‘ evil’.

Here is a still from the final sequence from the 3rd film

At a point where all participants had explored the sites they were sent an “IP detect notice and told immediately to go to the attached wiki – this important backbone exchange can be followed on www.roger-that.info/wiki/

From the wiki they were sent to 6 locations to discover more – this included a place where a radio recording where Christine, on a talk show hears that something is very wrong with the school, a real interview with the director of the school, various physical clues in offices and studios as well as a blog aftrssucks.blogspot.com/

And here is a link to a clone of the WIKI chat, remember this was used dynamically as the central backbone of most of the investigative element of this ARF The AFTRS Curse wiki page

From the clues and various locative arts hunting around for rune symbols the whole thing ended in a curse removing ceremony in the Studio 1 dictated by another site we set-up www.cursecleanse.com/ – follow the building/unsolved/australia/aftrs route to get to the conclusion ceremony.

A list of unsolved building curses

The beginnings of the ceremony.

Here they finally are able to match the rune shapes that they recovered around the building with the ingredients they need for the curse removal ceremony. One was the Lucky Charm that a security guard at the school, Taska mailed around earlier in the week

The step by step guide to completing the ceremony – by this time all 50 participants were gathered around a podium marked with a hexagon, chanting etc

A surprise final element came midway through the ceremony – a mask needed to be destroyed, smashed but where was it. A mask that hung in the foyer for the last two weeks was indicated on this pop-up

After the ceremony was repeated, the mask was smashed and of course the sudden re-emergence of Christine who in keeping with a theme that ran through the whole week as dragged off by a gorilla – you don’t want to know more than that!.

We would have used more cross-media elements (portable media devices, mobiles etc) but creating ‘alternate reality’ takes time!

Below you will find information I have gathered from her diaries, word of mouth and from the last few days when I was able to enter the school.

I know the people looking at this right now are the new students at AFTRS on a Thursday morning session. Please ignore what you were told to do and help me. We need to get more information about each of the leads below – work in your teams. We need to communicate in real time through this Wiki – so any information you get please, please enter it in the sections below for all of us to share. To add to this page, all you have to do is click the EDIT tab at the top of this page. WE HAVE TO DO THIS NOW and quickly!

Messages to and from ROGER NOW! 11.06 am Thursday 9th

ROGER: DOES ANYONE WANT TO TELL ME WHAT HAS HAPPENED??? FROM ALL THE INFORMATION BELOW. WE NEED TO WORK FAST!

IMPORTANT: Can you guys all split up and see if you can find anything from the six locations below? Report back to all of us by filling in the DISCOVERED INFO lines – by clicking EDIT and hopefully we can sort this together…

ROGER: HAS ANYONE FOUND ANYTHING YET???

Purple Team suggests that each group goes to one place. WE ARE GOING TO INVESTIGATE THE DRAWING OUTSIDE STUDIO 2.

ROGER: YES EACH GROUP DO ONE LOCATION ONLY IF YOU CAN – this will be best. We need to get a move on a work out what is going on. I am so scared, the moment is getting near I hope!

Yellow team? – Roger – do you know the location of Christine’s old office?

ROGER: ASK ONE OF THE STAFF THEY SHOULD KNOW. SHE DIDNT TELL ME – NEVER TOLD ME ANYTHING LIKE THAT ;-(

ROGER: ALL! BLACK TEAM HAVE FOUND A MAP. I THINK THIS IS IMPORTANT! WAITING ON INFORMATION…

ROGER: WHAT IS AT THE BLOG SITE?? FOUND IN CHRISTINES OFFICE

EVERYONE MEET OUTSIDE THE LIBRARY ASAP BEFORE GOING BACK TO CLASS TO GATHER ALL INFORMATION> WE NEED TO WORK TOGETHER!

ROGER: WHO SAID THIS – YOU NEED TO STAY WITH ME TOO! SOME STAY ON THE WIKI TO KEEP SHARING

ROGER: IT HAS ALL GONE QUIET. HAS ONE OF THE STAFF CAUGHT ONTO THIS AND STOPPED YOU LOOKING? WHO HAS THE MAP OF THE SCHOOL. CHRISTINE KEPT SAYING SHE WAS LOOKING FOR SOMETHING WHEN I SPOKE TO HER?

ROGER: WHAT IS THE MAP POINTING AT?

Pink team found a rune stone in Studio 2 – we will take it to Studio 1 with us…

Purple: a big group is in the library – we have map, rune, and have meanings for each rune Perhaps it’s the spell we have to say to reverse Christine’s!

I HOPE EVERYONE GOES TO LIBRARY we now have 3 runes

Roger give us a clue!

ROGER: YES I THINK THAT IS WHAT HAPPENED. A SPELL REVERSAL MIGHT BRING HER BACK AND LIFT THE CURSE OFF THE SCHOOL!!! I HAVE JUST FOUND A DIARY ENTRY CURSECLEANSE.COM

ROGER: GREAT WE HAVE FOUND ALL THE RUNES. WHAT DOES IT SAY ON CURSECLEANSE ABOUT INGREDIENTS???

We are now collecting all the ingredients mark off as is found

* red bowl, water, vinegar, salt

* rosemary

* red chalk

* charm

black candle

three twigs tied with human hair

go to studio one – smoke machine

WHERE IS THE BOX – it has the twigs and candle – if you have it bring it to studio 1

Things to investigate

=== TV Dept === I remember Christine did a radio interview in April 20 2005, she said something spooked her on that show? She stored her radio interview archives in TV dept. I think?

ADD DISCOVERED INFORMATION HERE: Apparently the drawing is of the Star of David surrounded by runic symbols. -Black Team

blue team is onto this.

ROGER: COOL TELL US WHAT YOU FIND!! HURRY

Listened to the CD of christine – she said she thought school was haunted! Someone called in and said it was. And then there were strange noises on the CD.

ROGER: THANKS BUT THAT ISNT HELPING ME WORK OUT WHAT HAPPENED TO CHRISTINE?

YELLOW TEAM: WE JUST FOUND CHRISTINE’S CLOTHES WHERE SHE WAS KIDNAPPED!

ROGER: NO THE POLICE SAID THERE WAS NO SIGNS OF KIDNAPPING. I THINK SHE WAS INVOLVED IN BLACK MAGIC ON THE EVENING SHE DISAPPEARED

yellow: do her clothes mean anything?

ROGER: I DONT THINK SO

=== Library === Christine said there was a weird book she had found about spells in the AFTRS library, don’t know what she found out there?

ADD DISCOVERED INFORMATION HERE: Christine’s photo has been removed from the 2005 class photo poster. We checked the student poster in the library. Black group is checking library and security for any relevant information. we will post any relevant info.

ROGER: EXCELLENT WORK!! KEEP POSTING – keep working together

green group here again. black team found a book called ‘the encyclopaedia of magical ingredients’. it was reserved for 10/2 for christine. inside were two notes. one saying ‘non existent person’and the other was a post it with a list ofingredients. perhaps for a spell.

green group again – page 316 lists four ingredients – mesquite, parsley, white vinegar and rosemary.the first three have question marks, but rosemary is underlined.

ROGER: INGREDIENTS? WHAT WAS SHE TRYING TO INDICATE? ROSEMARY – THAT WAS THE NAME OF HER GRANDMOTHHER I THINK? I KNEW SHE WAS INTO SPELLS – WHAT WAS SHE TRYING TO DO? WHERE IS CHRISTINE?

Purple – Not sure if it relates to the spell ingredients, but we found a nondescript plastic bag filled with an indefinable moist earthy substance in the rear courtyard…?

ROGER: WE HAVE JUST FOUND CURSECLEANSE SITE THAT HAS INGREDIENTS LISTED THERE! CHECK WITH THEM NOW!

=== Janitor’s Room === In Christine’s diary she said the janitor knew some stuff but that he was being pressured not say anything. Her last diary entry: “I put a letter today for the Janitor in his room, but he was gone the next day? I must do it tonight…”

ADD DISCOVERED INFORMATION HERE: green group has found a letter from christine to the janitor. she is looking for runes hidden around the school.she has specifiedthe symbols she is looking for. can’ttype them here. sorry. green group will continue to investigate…

ROGER: RUNES. I HEARD CHRISTINE TALK ABOUT THOSE BEFORE. WHAT SYMBOLS THOUGH??? ANY OTHER TEAMS HAVE IDEAS??

Pink team: we found runes. And an email addy for Christine

hi there is a star of david with runes around the outside – 6 of them – the symbols i have written down – underneath costumes.

ROGER: SO THERE ARE 6 SYMBOLS? WHAT HAVE THESE GOT TO DO WITH ANYTHING? THE OTHER GROUP SAID THERE WERE SYMBOLS IN THE SPELL BOOK? UNDERNEATH COSTUMES?

Yellow: Her and her mates wanted to put a spell/curse on the school..yep over and out 4 now…

Green: has anybody got a key or index to the runes? We have Christine’s letter to the janitor with six symbols circled but we don’t know how to translate?

ROGER: THESE SYMBOLS ARE IMPORTANT – HAVE THERE BEEN ANY OTHER REFERENCES TO SPELL SITES ? I KNOW SHE WAS REALLY INTO THIS SORT OF STUFF?

=== Around Studio 2 === Another student said Christine was seen drawing, late one night on the floor outside studio 2 near props area ?

ADD DISCOVERED INFORMATION HERE:

there is some freaky stuff going on. we are scared to the bone. yellow team has found a weird symbol at studio 2. what does this mean

purple team has found chalked on the floor a star of david / pentagram in pink with a series of rune symbols around it – Tim from another team says this means black magic???

We found the chalk drawing of a 6-pointed star in a circle with runic symbols on the floor under a costume rack.

We’re in the library looking at a book which might explain it. – The star is a sign of supernatural protection – Purple team.

ROGER: PINK TEAM HAVE JUST REPORTED FROM THE COSTUME RACK? ARE YOU WORKING TOGETHER ON THIS? THANKS FOR LOOKING THOUGH

Pink team have found a rune stone in Studio 2.

=== Malcolm’s Office === Although I think she was being paranoid she said Malcolm – the Director of the school – was covering up something. From her diary: “Malcolm has written things about me in a file, I saw it once in the student centre but then they then hid it in Malcolms office. What’s going on?”. See if you can speak to Malcolm about this! – as if he would talk to you 😉

ADD DISCOVERED INFORMATION HERE:

malcolm said she was an odd girl – retro hippy. didnt fit in. she lost interest and didn’t turn up to classes, she was seen around the school filming and she had a thing for conspiracy theories – green group over and out for now. p.s. in the photo on the websiteshe was wearing a pentagram pendant around her neck.

ROGER: SHE WAS NOT ODD – SHE WAS LOVELY, MY PARTNER. I HATE STAFF AT AFTRS THEY KEPT ME OUT OF THE SCHOOL TO FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENED. PENTAGRAM, SURE IT WASNT A HEXAGRAM?

Christine’s Old Office

The last real clue I have was that Christine said she was doing something big that final evening – there must be evident in her old office. What did she do, I am so worried, the night she disappeared. If only I/we could get into her old office to find out…

Black Team here. We were in Christine’s Office and found a box. Inside the box were candles, garden twine, photos, cd, head wreath, incense, runes- letter saying janitor knows something –aftrssucks.blogspot.com. ,a statue of a cat and guy and a film of beyond the glass ceiling. Team is going to follow map. Will keep you posted- Black Team

ROGER: SHARE WHAT IS ON THE MAP WITH US ALL! NOW!

The map is of Aftrs. There was a pentacle star drawn on top of the map and with the map were two photos. Apparently paople are following the map. Haven’t heard anything yet. WIll let you know. On the blog we found a plan to destroy AFTRS. The plan will be executed within one month. Apparently there are staff also involved in the plan. Tried to join blog to discover insider info but we were rejected- very sad. pink team: we checked out the website – there seems to be a plan to revenge students who were rejected by AFTRS – they plan a black magic hex against the school…

ROGER: EXCELLENT PINK TEAM. SO WHAT HAS THIS TO DO WITH CHRISTINE???

It was a Hex agram NOT a Pentagram…

Pink team: We found out who the other students mentioned on the website that may be in on the revenge plan. Peter Crombie. A 2nd year editing student. He’s being interviewed

Ed came back said the map lead to six points in the school. The middle of studio one were there is a smoke machine, One in each court yard, one in corridor next to studio two, one in canteen and one in the composition room.-black Team

ROGER: AHHA. THIS MUST BE WHAT THE LIST IN HER DIARY – REFERS TO LOCATIONS E COURTYARD BLACK LIGHT F COURTYARD UMBRELLA? CANTEEN POOL HIGH

Black Team has gone to investigate. Has anyone heard if there was any information from Peter Crombie? We also can’t find the janitor. Has anyone spoken to the janitor? also a mask has been found in the foyer underneath it, it states “the unheard” There is speculation that we need to find the symbol that breaks the curse of bad drama. We have to counteract the bad curse that reverses the spell. Mesquite, parsely, white vinegar, rosemary. A rune was just found in the composition room. There must be more runes in the other rooms. Has anyone found anything?-Black Team

YELLOW TEAM: we have found a rune above the pool table in the canteen. it is the F shape one called ‘fehu’. we are going to check out the editing courtyard

BLACK TEAM: Just heard that all the runes have been found except for the last one in studio two.

BLACKTEAM: Will look at cursecleanse.com. apparently studebts want to meet at the canteen which they are calling the centre of spiritual vertices. Does everyone plan to meet here to collate evidence? Will stay here to keep Roger posted.

ROGER: I HAVE JUST BEEN TO CURSECLEANSE AND IT SAYS THE LEFT OR UPPER LEFT POINT???